Privacy and Cookie Policy
Please read the following privacy and cookies policy, in conjunction with our main terms and conditions, to understand how we use and protect the information that you provide to us.
In this policy:-
“Company” means Annandale Observer Limited, a company registered in Scotland with Company Number SC062879, and having its registered office at 96-98 High Street, Annan, DG12 6EJ, trading as DNG Media and “we”, “us” and “our” shall refer to the Company;
“Paywall” means a software barrier on the Website which restricts user’s access to certain functionality unless you have registered with the Website and paid a fee;
“Services” means any of the services provided by the Company through the medium of the Website, including but not limited to (a) provision of news stories and other information (b) advertising of cars, properties and various goods and services (c) advertising job vacancies, (d) provision of comment or discussion forums and (e) provision of competitions;
“Website” means any and all of the following websites published by the Company and located on the world wide web via the uniform resource locators:- www.dngonline.co.uk, www.annandaleobserver.co.uk, www.dumfriescourier.co.uk, www.annandaleherald.co.uk, www.moffatnews.co.uk, www.DnG24.co.uk and any other website of the Company;
“you” means any person who has viewed, downloaded, used or otherwise accessed the Website and/or Website Information and includes (but is not limited to) any person who has been granted access to a special area of the Website, and “your” shall refer to you.
The Company is committed to preserving the privacy of all visitors to the Website. We know that you care how information about you is used and shared and we appreciate your trust in us to do that carefully and sensibly.
By using the Website, you consent to the collection, use and transfer of your information under the terms of this policy, including the use of cookies on the Website.
[Privacy Officer]
We have an appointed privacy officer (PO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the PO using the details set out below.
Our full details are:
Full name of legal entity: Annandale Observer Limited
Name of PO: Joanne Laidlaw
Email address: privacy@dngonline.co.uk
Postal address: Privacy Officer, DnG Newspaper Group, 96 High Street, Annan, Dumfries & Galloway DG12 6EJ.
Telephone number: 01461 202417 or 01461 202078
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
Generally we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us via email or phone or updating your preferences in your user account.
Purposes for which we will use your personal data
We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.
Purpose/Activity | Type of Data | Lawful basis for processing |
To register you as a new user of the Website | (a) Contact | Performance of a contract with you |
To remove the Paywall and receive payment for doing so | (a) Financial | Performance of a contract with you |
To manage our relationship with you which will include:
(a) Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy |
(a) Contact | (a) Performance of a contract with you
(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how users use our products/services) |
To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) | (a) Contact
(b) Technical |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise)
(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you | (a) Contact
(b) Technical |
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy) |
To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences | (a) Technical | Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our products and services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy) |
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about goods or services that may be of interest to you | (a) Contact | Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our products/services and grow our business) |
Marketing
We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any company outside of our group of companies for marketing purposes.
Opting Out
You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by logging into you user account and checking or unchecking relevant boxes to adjust your marketing preferences or by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time.
Change of Purpose
We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us. If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
Our Website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our Website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our Website and also allows us to improve our Website.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.
The cookies we use allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around the Website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our Website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.The cookies also record your vote in a Website poll and remember your preferences for viewing images.
You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below.
Cookie | Name | Purpose & Expiry |
Google Analytics | _utma _utmb _utmc _utmt _utmz |
These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our Website. We use the information to help us improve our Website. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to our Website, where visitors have come to the Website from and the pages they visited.These cookies will expire as follows: _utma will expire 2 years after your last visit to our Website; _utmb will expire 30 minutes after your visit or after 30 minutes of inactivity; _ubmc will expire when you close your browser; and _ubmz will expire 6 months after it was set. |
DnG24 | cookies_accepted | To remember if you have accepted our terms and conditions regarding cookies.This cookie expires 30 days after your last visit. |
Please note that our advertisers may also use cookies, over which we have no control.
You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our Website. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
The information you provide to us will be held on our computers in the UK and may be accessed by or given to our staff, the staff of our group companies and third parties who act for us (who may work outside the UK) for the purposes set out in this policy or for other purposes approved by you. By submitting your information to us, you agree that it may be transferred outside the European Economic Area. We will always take steps to ensure that your information is used by third parties in accordance with this policy and the data protection laws of the UK.
We may also pass aggregate information on the usage of our Website to third parties but this will not include information that can be used to identify you.
If our business enters into a joint venture with or is sold to or merged with another business entity, your information may be disclosed to our new business partners or owners.
We will not sell your biographical information or contact details to any third party. We will not share or distribute any of the information you provide to us with or to any third party unless as part of the service you have registered for, or we are required to do so by law, or we have obtained your consent to send you details about third party products and/or services, in which case we may pass the information you provide to us to the providers of those goods and/or services.
Any changes to this policy in the future will be posted to the Website and/or, where we feel it is appropriate, notified to you by email.
All comments, queries and requests relating to our use of your information are welcomed and should be addressed to DNG Media, 96/98 High Street, Annan, DG12 6EJ or submitted to sg@dngonline.co.uk